More soccer??? Pandering to Cape Verdeans again??

Why does the mayor want to spend another $500,000 on more soccer fields? The great Walker field m on the North Side, where the legendary Mike Von George dedicated thousands of hours to the children of Brockton may be turned into soccer fields at the expense of the baseball and basketball kids of this city. Why??? How many soccer fields do we need??

A multi purpose park seems the way to remain. Neighbors are rallying against it. Walkers has a great b-ball/softball field; b-ball courts;swings and I think tennis court, albeit in need to repair. The east side has O'Donnell's park, this would be a mistake to take out of the neighborhoods of the north side.

What alternative would the kids around there have? Although it sounds like a nice idea to spruce up the area, where will kids play?

My compromise solution that I proposed was make walkers field a youth soccer field , keep the baseball field and basketball court. Cut out the parking lot out on may Ave and have entrance for parking on Raymond school lot. Also add futsol court and rehab the playground and add splash pad if possible

Make sure parking on may ave is for residents only

Then fix the George school field, add another youth soccer field at that location

Not just pandering to the Cape Verdeans, soccer is on the upswing. My town just spent $16.5 million to create a park with soccer fields and other amenities. $5.5 million was spent on the baseball stadium which...can be configured for soccer.
North Main Athletic Complex

This complex is in addition to the multitudes of soccer fields around our little town. Face it, the cost of entry is small, and just about anyone can do well in soccer.

We're a baseball family, extremely high cost of entry and really the only team sport where each competitor has a one-on-one opportunity...so to see soccer taking up all the resources sucks but at least the kids have a place to play and something to keep them active.

There are also several basketball courts just a few hundred yards away. It makes one wonder what Ms. Garland's true motive is here. After all, she is a relative of Chris Macmillan and a campaign team member of Jacob Tagger.

A better solution would be to analyze the usage of all of the facilities and put money and effort into the ones that do get used, and discontinue the ones that don't. Demand management with some capacity to handle peak usage times.

Save some money... If they aren't being used, turn them into something else.

David R. Heidke
Steward of InBrockton.com

"A mile of road will take you a mile, but a mile of runway will take you anywhere..."

A better solution would be to analyze the usage of all of the facilities and put money and effort into the ones that do get used, and discontinue the ones that don't. Demand management with some capacity to handle peak usage times.

Save some money... If they aren't being used, turn them into something else.

^^^ this

"Someday when you grow a couple you can return to Facebook and maybe you will even be man enough to represent yourself." - B. Massiano

I agree soccer is popular everywhere. However we already have a ton of fields. They have 2 fields behind the high school built by BYSA.............new fields on Centre St, fields at East Junior High, Hilstrom Field lies unused as a soccer field also.....Tukis is barely used there are fields used at the VA Hospital.....there are fields behind North, West also..............as for my comment about the Cape Verdeans do not think for a second there is not a push by them to take over Walkers.

If we have such money for field development why isn't it going to the schools to bring back laid off teachers?

CHALLENGE.....................How many people even know where Hillstrom's is???

Today I was at the library...for a city of 100,000 people it is sad. They have such minimal money for new books. Imagine what we could do to provide for the education of people if we had a decent library??
More soccer fields.................Gilmore School........Massasoit..........George School..................

I know they're applying for a grant but don't believe it will be covered completely by said grant. There are some valid concerns around parking there. All of Brockton fields are a disgrace in terms of maintenance. Not sure how they can add more to their plate. This was discussed In a Parks Meeting. It really should be in a more Public Forum and input from residents particularly abutters should be at least heard.

The City of Brockton just received a $400k to renovate one of the two remaining baseball fields in Brockton at Walker Field. The City will put up the other estimated $100k. The plan is to have a full size soccer field, a Futsal (boarded soccer field) a possible Junior Soccer field, and a renovation to the playground. No matter how popular Soccer is it's unfortunate that the City will have one decrepit baseball field left that they have failed to maintain.

The following is the statement by the Director of Parks, Timothy Carpenter . I was offended. I'll leave it at that.

"The Brockton Parks Department previously put out a statement that transforming Walker Park into a soccer-oriented facility is meant to "better meet the needs of the city." Soccer is very popular among immigrant communities in the city, but there aren't many proper fields in Brockton. In a July 7 letter to the Massachusetts Historical Commission, Brockton Superintendent of Parks Timothy Carpenter said that the city was "leveraging social resources in the Cape Verdean and Haitian community" as part of its outreach surrounding the soccer complex project."

"Carpenter, the mayor, told a group of soccer players about the project earlier this year, stating that it would cost $500,000 to redevelop the park. Carpenter said the $100,000 not covered by the grant would come from city funds. He said it would be built next year."

Wouldn't it make more sense to spend money on maintaining existing ball fields instead? We don't have that kind of money!!
I'm still waiting to see some roads replaced and not just patched. All of our streets are nothing but patches that last only a short while, so it's done again and again. Such stupidity! Such waste of money!

Congratulations to the residents of Ward 7 and also the the baseball community as well. They organized and explained the issues of a full size soccer field at Walker. I never thought about the issues that would be created with an Adult Soccer field in the same complex as a playground. So he'll find other land for the regulation soccer field and leave a Walker as a playground complex. Also the issue of parking on the May Street entrance will be addressed as well.

"Mayor Bill Carpenter said there's a lack of functional adult soccer fields in Brockton, but, due to resistance by neighborhood residents, a newly acquired $400,000 state grant won't be used as planned to build a proper pitch at the Walker Playground. Instead, Carpenter said, three or four other parks in the community will be considered for the redevelopment project, with $120,000 in federal funds being used to supplement the Massachusetts Parkland Acquisitions and Renovations for Communities grant, which the city was awarded last week. However, a state official told The Enterprise that it is not possible to change the location of a project being funded through a PARC grant."

"The 11-member Brockton City Council Finance Committee passed a motion to accept the $400,000 grant, but with the condition that it can't be used to build a full-sized soccer field at Walker Playground. The condition was put forth by City Councilor Shirley Asack, whose Ward 7 includes the Walker Playground. The PARC grant proposal submitted by the city earlier this year calls for a soccer-centric facility, with an adult soccer field, a youth soccer field, and a futsal (miniature soccer) court at Walker Playground. The Finance Committee's vote must be confirmed at the next meeting of the Brockton City Council later this month."

Dof2, you always bring such good and up to date news. Thank you!
I don't know if anyone realizes that a soccer fields upkeep is enormous. The grass is constantly torn up and needs tending to and nonstop reseeding. A far cry more maintenance than a ball field.

I was at the initial meeting with ward 7 residents and listened to the concerns.

I had a compromise which the residents were fine with. Child Field, basketball, baseball and futsol court. Playgrounds should stay playgrounds for our children. There was no resistance on keeping this park for the kids. This park is in a tight area abutted by single family homes in a dead end area and small streets. The residents were fine with making changes and making the changes to keep this for our kids.

If you were at the Initial Meeting who changed it to a full size Adult Field? And why was it done without neighborhood input?

From Monaghan below:

"Just an FYI
This article in the Enterprise is wrong.
Part of the grant is you have a year to plan for design of the field. And that design does not include an adult size soccer field. There are still talks going on between the city and state. But we will not be losing the grant money from what I am hearing.
There are still meetings to be held etc."

With all due respect to Tom, the CC needs to get their stuff together. They need to get the answers. We can't be screwed like we were when we lost the Baseball Fields to Campanelli. Still waiting for those promised Fields. It's an Election year, we need to pressure the Mayor and the entire City Council. And School Commitee should be taking a stand as well. November Elections are 11 months away.